Weather poses tricky birthday challenge
Obviously, a very serious matter had someone denying there was a problem.
The Spanish denying their banking system was on the verge of meltdown?
Giovanni Trapatonni on Ireland losing to Croatia on Sunday?
The EU on the prospects of not being able to find enough money to fulfil all their budgetary obligations?
No, sir; on Monday morning last yours truly turned 50, and to honour the event, one of my sister-in-laws decided to send a card in the form of a fictitious newspaper, hence the headline.
In the midst of all the international turmoil it was a nice touch.
And appropriate, because I do have a problem for which there doesn’t at the moment appear to be a simple and cost-effective solution — and I’m not talking about the euro or the soccer.
Like many farmers, I have a good store of feed left over from last winter, plus about 60 tonnes from 2010. I calculated some time ago that my requirement for additional fodder this winter would be minimal.
My plan of a month ago didn’t see me adding to the existing clamp — thus enabling me to use up that reserve in full. I would hoover up any additional grass that would grow during the summer in the form of round bales which would be stored separately.
That was the plan! However, the weather of the last few weeks has thrown that strategy more or less out the window, because grass has burst out of the ground as a result of the wet but very mild conditions.
Additional grass is always welcome, especially if it hasn’t cost too much to grow; however, it has to be managed.
My plan to round bale a few strong paddocks has now been replaced by a need to deal with those same paddocks and a few extra besides, in a way that is economical, because they have bulked up considerably.
While I could bale or clamp them, the reality is I will have too much, and a better option would be to sell it. However, with reduced numbers of stock nationally, and everybody else facing a similar situation, there is a very limited market for grass silage.
The problem of what to do has seen me toy with the idea of making hay out of some of it, weather permitting, of course — but all options are still on the table.
Returning to last weekend: by Saturday, the weather had deteriorated to the point where I was seriously thinking about putting some of my cattle in.
My biggest worry was not that the stock were huddled in bunches and looking miserable; it was that should the rain cease, they would have no dry lie. In that situation, with the ground saturated and water lying, stock tend to go walkabout, gradually becoming more unsettled, as they mark the land.
I went out to the yard and examined the silage pit and the readiness of the yards and sheds. I didn’t like the idea of them marking the fields and paddocks, but liked the option of putting them in even less.
Eventually, I backed off the idea of putting them in — after listening to the long-range forecast — in favour of a policy of splitting the larger lot, and moving them to more sheltered and theoretically drier fields. A bit like the captain of a ship in rough weather, I decided to chance riding out the storm.
By Sunday morning, things had improved. The new fields had held up well overnight, and each batch could now be seen lying in the shelter of west-facing hedges.
With that “crisis” past, I settled down on Monday evening to a family dinner, and birthday cake. I would adjourn later to a local hotel, where the discussion was dominated by the Croatia match and “Trap’s” Ireland.
Now there’s a man with a problem!
